breaking news here on r t israel pummels gaza with strikes after assassinating the top military leader of hamas at least nine people are reported killed including children israeli troops are on standby for a ground invasion. a bloody offensive seize key regional player egypt cutting off its diplomatic ties with israel and it's speculation that the flow of islamic fighters could soon head into gaza. and rising up against austerity millions of europeans sign up for block wide action against cuts with mass protests provoking the very heavy arm of the little.

live from our new center here in moscow this is r.t. with international news and comment twenty four hours a day israel has launched a deadly military offensive against gaza with fighter jets and warships attacking the occupied territory the operation began with the airstrike assassination of the military leader of hamas the palestinian group pledged to open the gates of hell in return ation well for more let's now cross live to tom barton he's in tel aviv so tom what can you tell us at this stage. well the situation down on the south in the south of israel and also in gaza continues to escalate the moment israeli jets are still drawing sites throughout gaza twenty sites specifically mentioned by israeli defense sources they say they want to destroy terrorist infrastructure down there but they've gone on these with these bombings

starting today with the killing of. beery the head of hamas his military wing a video earlier showed a missile hit his car which exploded and that was then followed by that escalation of bombing the israeli navy has also joined in shelling northwestern garza reportedly hitting its targets that there were not quite sure what those targets are how mass for its part as well has been firing rockets back into israel some of those shot down by israeli anti missile defenses it all goes back a few weeks with his rocket attacks increasing in their intensity hundreds of rockets fired over the past couple of weeks and also an air strike at the weekend by israel which killed four including three children report palestinian authorities

that led to this this current escalation and the fear at the moment that israeli ground troops may go in and invade gaza as they did in the new year of two thousand and eight to nine with operation cast lead back then this is called operation pillar of defense now a different name but very much the same pattern seems to repeating itself israel has called up reservists and the and they have said that they are prepared to send in ground troops if they deem it necessary. it's also been a wider diplomatic response as well with international groups like the the u.n. nations like the u.k. calling for restraint for the palestinian president mahmoud abbas he has called for an emergency meeting of the arab league that will happen tomorrow or on saturday and he's also called for a stop to israeli aggression and lastly by egypt as well with its

new government the first sort of test for them on this on the israeli palestinian question and they have come out and said they're going to withdraw their ambassador to israel over this they're outraged over it and they want israel to stop this offensive immediately there is further speculation that they may open the ruffo crossing the only crossover between israel and gaza which would potentially allow many civilians and possibly fighters who want to escape to leave gaza but could potentially also let in. a lot of fighters either muslim brotherhood fighters or other islam missed militant group fighters to go into gaza which could provide reinforcements for hamas if it wanted to stand toe to toe against israel and could

further exacerbate what is already a very unnerving very tense and very violent situation down there tom thanks very much indeed for that live update no doubt more from tom throughout the day here on r.t. well even the prospect of a new war on gaza is polarizing the international community from outright indignation in egypt to a confused u.n. response let's get more on the international community's role with dr saeed said the political security of the american university in cairo very interesting to get the perspective there from egypt were just two days ago egypt actually mediated a peace effort that saw israel agree not to attack palestinians well look where that's led to now since egypt now withdrawn its ambassador to israel what more can we expect what sort of reaction from car own now. i think egypt is now calling. for an emergency meeting also pushing the united nations to have. an emergency meeting but i think what you can get from the international community

is nothing more than condemnation calling for international history but nothing more than that if you remember president obama when he was after being elected for a second term he declared. he would be giving to economic development in the united states. and the middle east you have only a certain part you know it is a. situation in syria. securing. about the not the palestinian question or the israeli conflict now this is clearly and it happens at the same time when president obama was giving a first conference about his economic. agenda and he did not mention anything that is happening. you feel that the united states which plays a very important role in this conflict is not going to do much now it's going to do

so i think eventually they've got to react somehow what would a bomb eventually sell after all this is the last thing he really wants to be happening at the moment isn't it but they've got to have some sort of response surely especially if this carries on for a few days. he will have to take a stand he will stand and try to mediate the situation or we will be silent and in this case he will be siding was israel and if the play the economic cause again if you remember the arab spring countries are all suffering all the country or so on that is economically and the mystical. really difficult time and again is a can only can israel afford to fall out with egypt after all when they carried out the invasion four years ago it was in power they had a peace treaty of course it looks fairly solid then but now it's a different leadership there in cairo they're only going to be on fairy thin ice on a now it depends on what is collusion going to happen in. the sense that it would lead to

a mass exodus of palestinians to sinai here this is a problem for egypt because there is fear of the there was a conspiracy the israelis want to explore the palace in question to sinai which has already been suffering some security problem in the last two years and even before that and so that would also push maybe nationalist will doubt if this. is taking place in is only limited to. a longer objective which is exporting the problem of palestinians to sinai and this will be a really terrible fall as of the most he and his government just to make it clear that a little earlier we're really suggesting that the international community is going to be fairly muted over this so if they are going to see the palestinians isolated . dear there will i saluted in the spring and yesterday as you know although there was our. foreign ministers meeting in cairo ignored the request

of the palestinians to get membership in the united nations and in fact you had some really firstly if the palestinian authority tried to make this request officially in the united nations they will topple. the chief saw it shows you that nobody is really serious about the palestinians but this is a serious situation isn't it bearing in mind a region already highly volatile the middle east can't afford to see this happening at this very sensitive time isn't it riklis what the israelis are doing now. definitely because it can lead to more it's collusion especially with not totally control it can get a lot of people from this organization but at the same time we have calculated that we've been on is quite hezbollah is busy with the free syrian army

syria is too busy with its own domestic situation jordan is having trouble egypt is having trouble so the calculation is that we can get away with it if we do the strike now and do it quickly and the international community would respond after the fact after our company after everything had been done and of the structure and have been. you know when we seen a strike before as i said four years ago didn't really achieve anything so it's not that straightforward is it for israel to strike while the rest of the international community has got its back turned on it. no not at all but you see a war against iran will start with undermining syria and so you have to look also at the regional picture the image of what. clearly what they want is they want the story of syria. our lives hezbollah and the story

the mess all it would make difficult for the immediacy would feel more and more be siege because this would the over. and front the. tools for iran to supply back if there is only is the nuclear program now undermining. strategic assets in the area dr say it said it thank you very much indeed for your thoughts political sociologist at the american diversity in cairo joining us live here on r.t. thank you what a little earlier i spoke to political analyst dr seuss' see inside gaza itself and he says that people fear a ground invasion could start at any time. for the boss a few minutes even we've been been here hearing bombings. targeting cars civilians in suits you what's the situation is very tense days or even planes are hoovering in the sky of the guy or the other straight. benny king. there's been

some fear the ground invasion what decade police and i think the situation would continue at least for the next hours and the next if you would be. i think there was just some factions hamas islamic jihad and other frankin will not give up and they will do their best to retaliate and launch some work it's a form goes on those really aside in order to pressure the israeli side to stop their attack that is intensive up to this moment and we have witnessed more than fifty attacks said. in from the south to the north of the gaza strip from the east to the with all the gaza strip has been under fire up to this morning. we're keeping a close eye on the developments in gaza shortly i hope to be hearing from a spokesman from the israeli defense forces that's after this short break stay with us here on r.t.

. things are just getting too expensive in london many families just can't afford to live in the city anymore so because of upcoming welfare cuts the government is buying or rented property to relocate people outside of the city the maximum housing allowance for welfare will go down to four hundred pounds a month which is peanuts compared to the one thousand two hundred fifty pounds need to pay for the average three room apartment expelling the poor from london seems a bit fishy to me so instead of say regulating prices are cut for big using the money from the welfare cuts to create jobs so people can earn a living for themselves rather than rely on handouts london has decided to make itself some official get to go as well as to call a place where everyone from

a certain economic classes forcibly shove to although this may sound like some sort of help from the government it seems to me like a means to get rid of the poor rather than trying to make the poor less poor but that's just my opinion. if. bush is going to be soo much brighter than if you knew about someone from phones to christians. means

for instance on t.v. dot com. so.

used to news here back to our top story our breaking news concerning israel attacking gaza with strikes after assassination the top military leader of hamas and at least nine people are reported killed including children will join me live now as promised as israel defense force. colonel leibovich when you claim you're carrying out limited action aimed at destroying rocket fire and capabilities in gaza and yet we're getting reports of civilians dying including children so how do you justify that sort of retaliation. i think that seven

hundred rockets a year launched from gaza into israel do not demand justification we have one million israelis which are under immediate danger and they have between fifteen and fifty seconds this more than justifies this operation we took this operation order to defend the people of israel. and can you confirm that you'll continue this operation with ground invasion. ground invasion is an option we currently have an operational assessment following the assessment will decide how to proceed for us all the options are currently on the table what do you hope to achieve by an invasion is it it's going to provoke a mass even more and just turn into a just a circle of more violence and death. well since hamas encouraged the firing of the rockets into israel don't you think it's a bit late for that i mean we are here in the feel of the fence operation in

order to protect three million israelis that are almost under this rocket fire we currently are continuing the operation a few hours ago we targeted underground tunnels and launching pads in these launching pads there were rockets of different types some came from iran i'm referring to the farther five these are rockets with a very long range that can merely reach the city of tel aviv we cannot allow this situation to continue our country deserves and has the right to defend its people you carried out a ground operation four years ago operation cast lead many say that achieved absolutely nothing many civilians dying what do you think's going to be different this time around but why will you be more successful. first of all i have to disagree with you the operation was very successful in two thousand and eight we went down from one hundred rockets a week at the time to nearly two were achatz an average a month so of course it was very efficient we're not promising it totally stopping

of the rockets but we are looking at crippling the capabilities of these terror going to zation headed by hamas hamas is accountable for any rocket fire that cleaves gaza into israel and of course if you do take your action there is a ground invasion it of course involves israeli troops to the israeli people have an appetite to. lose troops under these circumstances. i believe that being the military the biggest organization in the country we have the full support of the israeli people because they understand that the next rockets from gaza can reach their homes this is why we have their full support. statistically many would say that the rocket attacks on israel have had not as much in the fact as what's happening with the retaliate three attacks from israel against gaza we're getting reports obviously of civilians dying i spoke to an eyewitness earlier who was saying that even children were caught up in this what do you say about this collateral damage after all you are using fighter jets and the

navy to target but something like twenty. targets and people are dying as a result of that so it's hard to hit it. i believe that there are casualties on both sides in the past decades now we don't have any intention to target people that are not involved directly in terror but hamas is the terror going to zation that chose deliberately to locate its warehouses of rockets its facilities of terror its outposts right in the middle of the population hamas is accountable for any civilian deaths by doing this. of course the time couldn't be any worse for this action taken by israel the region really is locked in conflict is a very volatile time don't you think that this could have serious consequences not just between the mass gaza and israel but of course the region as a whole many would say israel is being reckless at this time.

i thought i would like to see those people that are actually having these allegations i would like them to see how it is to live in a shelter even for one year not for twelve years for one year what is it like two for two and they for the entire family to sleep the shelters or run when you hear the siren within fifteen seconds we do not need justification then of course on the other hand the gazans will hear exactly the same surrender or painting them into a tiny lie and the whole policy of these road is ready is ours because they can say exactly the same guys and shows. it's not the same the gazans chose hamas hamas chose terror terror is rocket fire we will not comply with this kind of situation hamas is accountable for the terror how can you even equate one hummus chooses to target israelis civilians while we only target terror activities terror terror targets defensible space person. live of which thank you

very much indeed for joining us live in jerusalem we appreciate your time. it's a day of unity in europe hasn't seen in years though for all the wrong reasons. mega protests are underway across the block with million signing up to join in a resoundingly chorus saying to a sturdy national speech on to sarah first who's following the demonstrations sarah more trouble in madrid where you are at the moment i think i'm down to two. with a day started off with some clashes between the riot police and protesters those sort of sporadic movements all across the city tonight tens of thousands of people taking to the streets you can see the moment the square behind me is just started clearing out they were listening to a talk just up on the stage surgical bit of a still a huge amount of people that are out tonight carrying that banners up all joining in this general strike today in spain and of course that hasn't just been splay we've seen this protest movement taking credit all across europe we've had italy

greece we've had the u.k. joining in we've had cyprus motor loads and loads of different movements plays a big main that later the country is a portugal greece italy and spain where we've really seen the most people turning out all rallying around that single message and that is to a stereotype and this is the first time we've really thing this protest movement called food is really that is quite significant and look at the faces pick out the people that you see in the crowds did a timed out today because it's always very striking through the euro crisis with these movements that it's so you all encompassing it's the young it's the old it's families it really feels like this is affected oh all levels of society and these countries and as we said you know as the euro crisis is going on we see people getting increasingly desperate and for the first time today we see them joining

forces to really have the home not message under what about the protests in the the rest of europe today even sooner. what we see in these movements all across europe to varying levels of some clashes breaking out in lisbon as well as he says some clashes here in spain ali i think it's worth noting that in countries like spain and portugal certainly you know you're a good it was a stark contrast to what you're saying now they were by and large fairly peaceful protest movements but as time has gone on and as the government has stuck very fiercely to this all star detroit we see them getting increasingly desperate people getting increasingly desperate. chatting and people getting angrier and angrier and that really plays out on the sleaze it's very hard to tell exactly how things are going to go how it's going to end up tonight here will be following it closely whether or no it's going to make a difference to the government's policy remains to be seen that's the real question

though is will this big game change will the fact that these european countries came together have more of an impact you know we've seen that these protests mean it certainly has slowed down a little bit on the timetable the paying back but that other people really want to see a change of tack in that house and happen so you know whenever you hear reporting these stories and you see these protests happen time and time again i'm always reminded of that saying you know if you stick to the road that you're on be careful because you might end up where you go away and i think it's becoming fairly obvious that that possible starting is going nowhere good is leading in no way a good in people it's simply reached the limits and so we're seeing a very similar thing that's what we've seen before but you know as we said today this is close to buddhas it's the first time he's saying there's a unified europe but for all the wrong reasons. surface thank you very much indeed reporting live there from madrid well earlier i spoke to one of the organizers of

strike action in britain she says it is the government's duty to listen to the people not beat their opinions away with battens. this is a real sea change for the movement the trade union movement here in britain but also across europe and it's because people are realising that if we are to back this devastating tide of terrible and useless cuts which are devastating people's lives then we have to take collective action ourselves as ordinary people as trade unionists as an employed pensioners we have to say that there are other economic policies available will not only devastation but it's time for our leaders our political leaders our economists and bankers to change their policies austerity is not sure if people if the spanish citizens the workers of spain gathering together to say that they want a different approach their livelihoods are being destroyed their families are suffering and they have the democratic right to make those protests they have the

right to withdraw their labor and to make their voices heard it's a story if workers and ordinary people can't make their protests without being violently suppressed their voices have to be heard it's those people that have put the politicians in place and the politicians have to listen to the ordinary people and meet their needs stay with r.t. for a coverage of the e.u. make a strike as workers unite against austerity. the u.s. campaign in afghanistan is over the military great blue with at least two celebrity generals and veterans of the intervention falling from grace the sex scandal that started with revelations of the ex cia chief having an affair has now claimed the reputation of the current afghan campaign commander ortiz knew she explains. in the papers that here in afghanistan for transit star and battlefield felled cia by an

affair the situation the reaction on the ground has been one of outrage people are really quite confused by this this whole scandal one of the comments that i heard from a person who wish to be anonymous in the foreign ministry is office was they founded really indicative of how well the afghan war effort is going in terms of u.s. policy if the top general in charge of it had time to send twenty to thirty thousand pages worth of inappropriate e-mails people here have also expressed some confusion as to why these kinds of scandals would force these top men to resign and not for example the scandals that have really resonated among the people here on the ground for example the tragic massacre by a u.s. soldier of sixteen civilians here in afghanistan the burnings of the koran by officials here as well as regular policies like for example night raids which are so controversial here that often result in the deaths of civilians so people are quite confused by this scandal they're not quite sure what implications will have on the u.s.

war effort here in afghanistan and of course it's coming on the heels of very important talks between the u.s. and afghanistan the two countries have been in negotiations over what the u.s. will do with the remainder of its sixty eight thousand troops that are here that are due to withdraw by the twenty fourteen deadline some analysts i've spoken to on the ground here in kabul think that this embarrassing scandal will really be sort of a pardoning chip for some factions in afghanistan and be able to effectively get more of what they want to say well look you know you guys here in the u.s. military top brass don't necessarily have the credibility to pull off certain policy options and that's really been the concern as one of the fall outs of the scandal but of course if we look at the big picture in terms of u.s. policy in afghanistan it really has been crisis after crisis it's not just these resignations betray us and the implication of general allen we've seen the u.s. spend nearly six hundred billion dollars in its eleven year effort in afghanistan the insurgency the taliban insurgency has largely remained on the ballot by that we've also seen.